Interview with Swedish death metal legend EVOCATION.
Answered Marko Palmén.
Translated by Duzl, thank you!
Ave
EVOCATION! I have to admit that your new album „The Shadow
Archetype“ killed me. It has everything what death metal should
have. What kind of feedback do you have from fans and critics? How
about reviews? Are you satisfied with what you did?
Hell-o
there, and thanx a lot for the nice feedback on the new Evocation
album! So far I would say that the album has received really positive
reactions from both media and fans. And for us it really means a lot
to hear all those comments on the album, it’s what keeps us going
as a band! I’m really satisfied with “The Shadow Archetype” and
all the work behind the album. We spent more time on this album than
we have ever done before and the result was also amazing in my
opinion. I’m certain we can stand proud of the album in the future
to come.
The
first thing that caught my attention was the great cover by Michal
“Xaay” Loranc. Why did you want to work with him and how did you
choose the cover? What is the title painting? What does it mean? It
makes me think and I cannot really figure out what or who is it? Some
kind of a monster? I really like the cover; it catches my attention
every time.
“The
Shadow Archetype” comes from the Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav
Jung’s theories of psychological archetypes. Jung meant that humans
are not born as a blank sheet of paper or a tabula rasa. Instead he
meant that humans inherit psychological structures from their
ancestors that go thousands of years back in history. “The Shadow
Archetype” is the psychological structure which holds all the dark
or evil side of the human psyche.
The
artwork itself is a symbolic interpretation of “The Shadow
Archetype” or the dark side of the human psyche. The evil of man
flashes out in a second in an uncontrollable rage… I think our
artwork artist Xaay captured the theory extremely well and one reason
for that is probably that he was very well read up on the subject. He
did a paper on the archetype theories at the Cracow University a
couple of years ago. The reason why we chose to work with Xaay is
that we really love his work and we have worked with him now on every
release since the 2010 “Apocalyptic” album. Nowadays we consider
Xaay as our in-house artwork artist. When we work together with Xaay
we pretty much do it the same way on every album; we give him an
album title, lyrics and some tracks to get inspiration from and then
he comes up with his ideas. And he always delivers something amazing
for us that capture the ideas that we have. The artwork for “The
Shadow Archetype” is in my opinion the best artwork he has done for
us…
Who
is the author of your lyrics for “The Shadow Archetype” and what
are the lyrics about? Where do you find inspiration?
Thomas
Josefsson our vocalist writes all the lyrics for Evocation. It’s
dealing with his thoughts on politics, psychological disorders, sex,
drugs, media and so on. How he sees the world. He is a very deep
thinking kind of person and as soon as we have a new song he sees the
whole story in front of him. Every song has a story on these kinds of
topics; I think that it’s his mission to tell you something. The
lyrics are the most important part to tell a story and to explain the
feelings in the music. It’s all true emotions and it’s a way to
tell a message. Thomas works for months with the lyrics and every
word is in the exact position where we want it. He hates to start
working with a new album but as soon as the brain flows and the pen
works he loves it. I love the fact that the band and the fans love it
to. I really hope that people see this.
The
new album has a dark and sharp sound. Who is the author and where did
you record? I would like to know how you compose. How is the
composing process of EVOCATION? Who has the last word? Who is the one
to say “this is right; this is how we are going to let it go”?
All
the music on the album has been composed by me and Simon Exner, the
new lead guitarist. However I must point out that the whole band has
been involved with the making of the album. Thomas, our vocalist
created all the lyrics and the arrangements for that and Gustaf our
bass player created all the bass lines for the album. Also not to
forget that our session drum player Per Möller-Jensen (ex-The
Haunted) was also involved and did some re-arrangements for the drum
tracks which turned out amazing.
The
creative process for “The Shadow Archetype” was really smooth and
easy in my opinion. When me and Simon wrote the music for the album
we shared the same visions and thoughts on how we wanted the album to
be and I think that was a major factor for making the songwriting
process so easy and smooth. We just threw riffs and ideas at each
other and then we would meet up a couple of times each week and try
to work them together. Although it took almost two years to write the
music for the album it was never boring or hard to work with each
other. I think both me and Simon might have the last word at least
when it comes to the song writing. For the lyrics Thomas has the
final word and for the bass Gus has the final word, I guess we are
all responsible for our own parts.
The
album was recorded in three different studios; drums at Crehate
Studios. Guitars, bass and lead vocals at our own Acacia Avenue
Recordings and backing vocals were done at Dugout Productions. The
production turned out amazing in my opinion and we didn’t
compromise with any details of the sound. We just did everything to
perfection and that’s why we also spent almost a year recording,
mixing and mastering the album.
I
like the darkness which people can feel from your music. I feel like
going through a forest during the night, somewhere in the North in
Sweden. Are you influenced by your surroundings, by the place you
came from? Does the nature from where you come from reflect in your
work?
I
would definitely say yes to the question if the dark northern nature
reflects in our music. The Nordic countries are quite dark and
depressive, especially in the winter time. Right now we have the
period of time where there is most light and this week Sweden is
celebrating midsummer’s eve which is an old pagan feast. So at the
moment everybody up here in the Nordic countries are in a natural
high due to all light, it’s only dark for a few hours in the night
until the sun rises again. So for Evocation the winter time is the
ideal time to write new music since it’s dark, cold and depressive
in that period. I like really melancholic melodies and I know for
sure that my sweet spot for those melodies has been influenced by
nature, growing up in a home with melancholic Finnish music etc.
You
published the album by Metal Blade Records. Your previous album was
published by Century Media Records. Why the change? Are you satisfied
with Metal Blade Records?
The
record label change was simply due to the fact that the recording
agreement with Century Media ended. Metal Blade Records is however
Evocation’s number one choice for a record label and that is due to
several facts. Metal Blade has for the first an amazing roster with
classical bands such as Mercyful Fate, Slayer, Behemoth etc. Secondly
they have a great reputation in the scene as a label that supports
their bands, and also have a strong foundation in the extreme metal
scene. For Evocation the perhaps most important thing why we chose
Metal Blade Records was that there are friends of the band that go
all the way back to the very beginning of Evocation in the early 90s.
For us it means a lot to work with friends of the band and somehow it
feels as if the circle has closed for us when we signed with Metal
Blade Records. We are extremely satisfied with the work Metal Blade
Records has done for Evocation.
I
have to admit that I have your complete discography. I started to
listen to your band when you published your second demo cassette in
1992. I like the evolution you had; you can see how much you are
developing. The only album I did not like was the previous one
“Illusions of Grandeur” (2012). I cannot help myself but it seems
different and not special. Did you compose differently? I feel that
this album is unusual for you.
Thanx
a lot for the support through the years! It’s people like you that
keeps the band going. I mean we are not living off the music and for
us it’s almost vital to hear people like you saying that the music
we make matters in their lives. It gives us the necessary energy to
keep on going as a band!
When
it comes to the “Illusions of Grandeur” album I can agree on some
parts there. When I listen to it nowadays it feels overproduced,
meaning that the sound is to clean. There are too many guitar layers
with harmonies etc. which makes the whole production lack the
necessary brutality that we always have had. The song writing on that
album was also more melodically oriented which in a way was a counter
reaction to the previous album “Apocalyptic” which probably was
our most brutal album. So yeah, you are right in some ways about the
“Illusions of Grandeur” album. However I must point out that I
still like several of the tracks on that album although the
production became to clean. With a more raw and brutal production the
album wouldn’t have stood out as much in comparison to our previous
efforts in my opinion. But no matter what I’m still proud of the
“Illusions of Grandeur” album and all the previous albums as well
although there is stuff on every album that I in retrospective would
want to change. One has just got to accept that the album turned out
the way that it did and accept the fact that it is a product of the
period of time we were in at the moment. At the moment I’m just so
extremely satisfied with how “The Shadow Archetype” turned out. I
think it’s the strongest album in our back catalogue both with the
songwriting as well as the production. We will see if it will stand
the test of time…
Recently
me and my friends talked about wanting to buy your first records, old
demos but there is no place to find them. Have you thought about
releasing them again?
I
just checked on the internet and most of the stuff is still available
on different web shops. Some vinyls might be sold out but CDs and
some of the most common vinyl versions are still available out there.
The demos from the early 90s we did a re-release on CD and Vinyl
through Century Media in 2012. That release is a really deluxe
version with double Vinyl 180g, and the CD has a 36 page booklet with
the entire history of Evocation from the early days until today etc.
Everything remastered at Fascination Street Studios with top quality.
So unfortunately today there are no plans on re-releasing any of the
old material with Evocation. If there would come an opportunity to
release the old demos in a strictly limited version on cassette there
might be a possibility that we would do it. And also if there would
come an opportunity to release the old albums as picture discs then
it would also probably happen, but besides that I would say that
there are no chances of re-releasing any of the old material.
You
are like veterans right now. When you compare your beginnings and
now, do you feel that the times have changed? I mean the attitude of
fans, labels, promoters, and so on. I often hear that “it is not
the same as it used to be”. What do you feel?
That
might be the case but I’m not sure if it’s the scene that has
changed or if it’s me that has changed. Perhaps the digitalization
of the music scene changed the attitude towards music and has made
people and the scene to digest albums and bands in a faster rate than
before. The lifespan of an album nowadays is shorter than ever and
which also maybe reflects in the attitudes towards music in a whole.
I sometimes feel that music doesn’t have the same value as it did
back in the 90s for instance. In my opinion it’s a bit sad but
there’s not much one can do about it.
Nowadays,
most people download music online and they only use its digital
copies. How do you feel about this issue? I would like to know it
from you, from a musician.
I
try to embrace the music scene as it is and also the digitalization.
For instance services like Spotify are a great invention for the
customer although it sucks for the bands when it comes to revenues. I
also love Spotify as a customer but as a musician it pretty much
sucks. When you don’t have a physical copy of the album it also
devalues the music and the work behind the album.
Are
there any records which have caught your attention recently?
The
best new album I have listened to in the last few years was At The
Gates comeback album “At War With Reality”. A really strong album
in my opinion and the title track itself is in my opinion one of the
strongest At The Gates tracks ever done. Totally recommended album! I
was really sorry to hear that the main song writer Anders Björler
just recently left the band. I think it will be difficult to create
the At The Gates magic without him onboard… Other bands in the
Death Metal scene that are interesting at the moment are for instance
Vallenfyre, Memoriam, Firespawn and The Lurking Fear.
Do
you know and listen to any Czech bands?
Unfortunately
I’m not familiar with the Czech metal scene… I don’t listen to
much new music at all nowadays. Sometimes I get a tip from some
friend and I will check it out but I really suck at checking out new
bands nowadays…
What
are EVOCATION´s plans for the next few months? Will you support your
new album with a tour and would you like to go to the Czech Republic?
At
the moment we are working on getting some shows done for the new
album. There might be some touring as well but at the moment we don’t
have anything to present to the readers. First in the pipeline we are
planning to do a show in our hometown Borås and after that hopefully
some European shows. Czech Republic would be awesome to play; we
still haven’t done a single show there. We played in the
neighbouring countries but unfortunately not the Czech Republic. For
me personally it would be great to play there since I absolutely love
the country. I have been there several times on vacation. The capital
Prague is just astonishingly beautiful and the food and the beer are
just amazing. I’m sure I will visit the Czech Republic several
times in the future, with or without Evocation. But hopefully with
Evocation!
Thank
you so much for this interview and I wish you a bunch of sold
records, hundreds of crazy fans and tons of good ideas.
Thank
you for the support of Evocation and hope we will meet the readers on
some shows in the future!
Cheerz,
/Marko
Palmén – Guitars tuned in B-flat since 1991
